MAP 2017 – Molecular Analysis for Personalised Therapy

ESMO 2018 Congress

Preceptorship Courses

Apply now to join one of our Preceptorship courses on Immuno-oncology, Lung Cancer and Ovarian Cancer

Workshops & Courses

ESMO fosters the advancement of cancer research by supporting clinical trials workshops to inspire young oncologists from different disciplines across the globe to become the next generation of active researchers.

Patient Guides

Guides for Patients are designed to assist patients, their relatives and caregivers to better understand the nature of different types of cancer and evaluate the best available treatment choices

Personalised Medicine Explained

Video interviews and articles designed to help patients, policy makers and other non-medical professionals better understand the principles of personalised cancer medicine

Getting the Most out of Your Oncologist

Now available in Romanian, our Guide for Patients with Advanced Cancer is designed for patients, their family members and oncologists.

Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care

The ESMO Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care accreditation programme recognises cancer centres which provide comprehensive services in supportive and palliative care as part of their routine care.

Rolapitant was found to reduce nausea and vomiting in patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy in a phase III trial. Such symptoms are often experience by patients on cisplatin and can cause dose reductions and treatment discontinuation.

The trial met its primary endpoint, with 72.7% of patients receiving rolapitantachieving complete response (defined as the patient having no emesis and not requiring any rescue medication) in the delayed phase (>24-120 hours post-chemotherapy) compared to 58.4% of those receiving placebo (p<0.001).

ESMO spokesperson Dr Roberto Labianca, director of the Cancer Center, Ospedale Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy, said: “In this well conducted large-scale clinical trial there was a clear advantage in patients receiving rolapitant when treated with highly emetogenic chemotherapy. It is remarkable that this effect was observed worldwide across different geographic regions. As the new drug is very selective and long-acting, and also well tolerated, it could be easily introduced in clinical practice in order to prevent both acute and delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.”

Oral rivaroxaban reduced the risk of bleeding in patients with cancer and acute VTE who participated in the EINSTEIN DVT and EINSTEIN PE phase III trials. Both studies compared rivaroxaban to standard treatment with enoxaparin/vitamin K antagonist (VKA) for the treatment of symptomatic VTE in patients with cancer. Anticoagulant therapy is indicated to prevent recurrent VTE but is associated with a high risk of major bleeding.

The study found that the incidence of recurrent VTE and of mortality was similar between the rivaroxaban and enoxaparin/VKA groups for patients with active cancer and a history of cancer. The risk of major bleeding significantly reduced with rivaroxaban in patients with active cancer, with a hazard ratio of 0.42 but was similar between treatments for patients with a history of cancer.

Labiancasaid: “Rivaroxaban is an oral drug, with the same antithrombotic effect as compared to the traditional drugs, but with a reduced risk of bleeding. This characteristic can be very important in clinical practice, allowing an easier and more convenient treatment of such a serious complication of cancer.”

Dr Labianca said: “This is really an important advance, as the study emphasises the absolute need of establishing an approach of simultaneous palliative care in patients with advanced disease (such as NSCLC) treated with antitumour drugs and affected with serious symptoms like CACS.”

He concluded: “These studies demonstrate the research efforts directed toward improving the quality of life for patients with cancer and the significant advances that have been made to control some of the most severe repercussions of treatment.”

About the European Society for Medical Oncology

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) is the leading European professional organisation committed to advancing the specialty of medical oncology and promoting a multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment and care.ESMO’s mission is to advance cancer care and cure through fostering and disseminating good science that leads to better medicine and determines best practice.

The ESMO international community counts more than 9,000 oncology professionals sharing best practices and the latest know-how in cancer treatment and care.